Hey guys, I just bought a 99 Ranger 3.0L 2WD with 4900 miles on it. Yeah, 4900 miles and its awesome lol. Anyways I bought it to run around in hoping that it gets a little better mileage the my 04 4.0L 4WD. The truck only had the oil changed once on it so the first thing I did was change oil on it. (I used 5w30 Mobil 1 syn.). I have been reading up about this cam syncro problem and I was wondering if maybe any of you had tried putting a few drops of oil in it? I was reading over on RPS and a guy did that with every oil change. Not sure if it would help or not but I wanted to see what you thought. I am getting a little noise under the hood but I am thinking it is the belt or idler pulley/tensioner. I wouldnt think that the Cam synchro could be doing it so soon but I guess you never know. Let me know what you think. Also if anybody else has anything you feel I should know about the 3.0 let me know as it is my first one!

 

Go with 5w20 oil. The cam sync is splash lubricated through a very small hole.It won't hurt to try and add a teaspoon of oil in the top of it.Just keep it off the sensor.

 

I once had a little noise from mine, so I pulled the sensor off and poured a little on it. Instantly made the noise go away and never heard anything since

 

Hmm, I think I will try that. I know Ford decided to change the oil reccomendation on this engine to 5W20 but the sticker under the hood says to use 5W30. I used 5W30. How many of you on here run the thinner oil? I'm not sure what to put in next time.

 

i use 5 - 20 usualy lol

 

I use 5w30 in the summer and 5w20 in the winter (full synthetic).

 

I switched my truck to Motorcraft 5w-20 synthetic blend at 145k miles, been running it for 20k now. Great oil, engine is noticeably quieter. I plan on running this oil for as long as I own the truck.

 

I thought Ford started 5w20 in 2002? If your cap says 5w30 I would not use 5w20.

 

I doubt its that important, how many major changes did they make to the 3.0 between then and now? I think they switched weights for fuel economy.

 

i dumped half a zephryhills bottle of diesel engine old 15w40 and it didnt hurt

 

I've heard about the small hole used for oil to splash onto the cam synchro...has anyone tried drilling out the hole a little bit to avoid plugging (ultimately leading to failure)?

 

That's a good question

 

Not much, make the hole 1/16'' oversized...maybe itll stop the plugging up so easily...just a thought.

 

I have my old one here and was looking at it.
The pin in the gear would have to be pressed out and the shaft removed , to clean out the filings, but it may be do-able.

 

That's where a shaped block of wood, a properly sized nail or bolt, and a HF (45 bucks, 38 or so with 20% off) 1 ton arbor press equipped with a cheater pipe comes into play. Then a good gear puller and a flat piece of metal with a relief cut to clear the shaft that the gear is pressed onto...

The cheapo arbor press has made several things much easier to do. Well worth the money.

 

I use 5w20, but thats what mine says to use.